Chapter 36: The Emerald Resonance
The heat came next. Prince Kaelen ordered the Sol-Invictus to ignite its "Atmospheric Burners." The sky above the sanctuary turned into a literal sea of fire. Even with the phasing technique, the sheer temperature began to wilt the silver leaves of the Great Root.
Carson's body began to steam. His skin turned a deep, angry red as he absorbed the thermal energy of a thousand sun-engines. But he didn't break the trance. He was currently deep within the "Green-Net"—the biological internet of the planet. Through the roots of the ancient mountain beneath the city, Carson's Qi surged upward. He didn't attack the Hegemony soldiers; he attacked the "Oxygen-Tax" machinery.
Inside the scrubbing stations, Imperial engineers watched in horror as thick, silver vines began to erupt from the steel floors. The vines didn't crush the machines; they integrated with them. The silver roots bypassed the digital locks, feeding the scrubbers with pure, primordial energy.
"The scrubbers are back online!" a Resistance member shouted in the Lower Sector, tears streaming down his face as a cool, floral breeze swept through the smog. "It's him! McCain is breathing for us!"
The "Grand Synthesis" was working, but the cost was being paid in Carson's blood. Every second he held the connection, his 33rd Strand—a thread of "Emerald-Gold"—was attempting to form. It was a bridge between the physical and the spiritual. But his mortal frame was beginning to liquefy under the pressure.
He felt a new presence. A dark, jagged energy was attempting to "Hack" the Green-Net. It was the "Awakened" Maya. The Hegemony had turned her into a "Void-Parasite"—a creature designed to poison the very flow Carson was trying to save. Kaelen knew Carson would link to the planet, so he provided a poison that could travel through that link.
"Aura... activate the 'White-Wash' protocol," Carson commanded, his 33rd strand flaring with a cleansing light. He didn't push the darkness away. He pulled it. He drew the poison out of the planet's veins and into his own 32nd strand—the Aegis. He became a filter, taking the darkness of the Hegemony into his own soul to keep the world pure.
The sky above the Isles suddenly turned a blinding, crystalline white. The fire was extinguished. The kinetic rods evaporated. For a brief second, every person on the planet saw the silhouette of a man standing behind a silver tree, holding the weight of the galaxy on his shoulders.